View from the Heart
by tsutsuji
Summary: Yozak is supposed to be the observant one, but sometimes even he misses seeing what's right in front of his eyes. Another story of the OT3: Yozak/Conrad/Murata. yaoi fluff


Title: View from the Heart

Author: Tsutsuji  
Rating: T  
Warnings: none. fluff.  
Written for Springkink, prompt: _Kyou Kara Maoh, Yozak/Conrad/Murata: comfort and finally a happy ending - The King may make a knight, but not a Gentleman._  
Word count: 1188  
Summary: Yozak's supposed to be the observant one, but sometimes even he misses seeing what's right in front of him.  
A/N: One more way to get the OT3 together. :) I didn't really get much of the prompt in, but at least there's the happy ending part. My 13th story for this round of Springkink, and the crappiest so far.

Yozak casually saunters over to where Conrad is standing at the edge of the group, at a moment when all other eyes are on King Yuuri and his fiance as Yuuri tries to explain the finer technical points of baseball to Wolfram, who is stubbornly not getting it.

Well, most other eyes are on them. Conrad's, for example, seem to be pinned to Murata, the dark eyed young Sage who is standing a bit off to the side, also watching Yuuri, as he always does.

Conrad usually watches Yuuri, too, although not as closely lately, and not any longer with that quiet, distant, almost-hidden longing that Yozak used to see in his face all too often.

Yozak likes to think he's got something to do with that, since he finally managed to catch Conrad's full gaze himself; unlike Julia von Wincott and His Majesty, though, _he_ was looking back when Conrad finally noticed the longing in _his_ eyes. Now, the only one still watching Yuuri with that distant longing is Murata. Yozak thought he was the only one who had noticed that, since he's in the business of noticing things, but apparently not.

He makes a point of following Conrad's thoughtful gaze.

"Looks different from this angle, doesn't it?" he says quietly.

He wasn't sure Conrad would get what he meant, but by the way his mouth stretches into something that is not a smile, he guesses maybe he did. But then, even more to Yozak's surprise than that, Conrad turns to him with the same sharp, thoughtful look.

"Yes," he says, studying Yozak's face pointedly. "Yes, it does."

Yozak blinks. His eyes dart back to the Sage, and before he knows it, he's pursing his lips in a sad little frustrated frown at the unrequited, almost-hidden longing he sees there. Then he glances back at Conrad, who is still watching him, now, and raises an eyebrow.

"What's that mean?" he asks, a little defensively.

He thought he was the only one who noticed Murata pining for the unobtainable. He could have sworn nobody had noticed him doing the same thing with the Sage. After all, he's already obtained the unobtainable, who is standing right there in front of him - even if they won't make it official for another year or so; engagements are long among Mazoku families in Shin Makoku, especially royal families. And he doesn't mean anything by watching Murata like he has been, only that he knows that look when he sees it.

"I only mean," Conrad says, with another glance toward Murata and back at him, "that I hate to see someone I care about make the same kind of mistake I made."

Yozak's not sure which mistake he means, the pining-for-the-unobtainable mistake, or the not-noticing-what's-right-in-front-of-you mistake. He knows what's right in front of _him_, and he always has, even when it wasn't looking in his direction. As for the unobtainable - well, he's not exactly pining for Murata. Just ...

"You should let him know how you feel," Conrad says, making Yozak's mouth drop open. "Don't leave it unsaid. He's not as slow as I was; he'll recognize what's right in front of him when he sees it."

Yozak cocks his head, hiding his utter surprise behind a front of mere confusion.

"What, are you telling me to go for it with Geika?" he asks. Leaving unspoken the question that he's just a little afraid to ask: _are you letting me go? _

Conrad smiles, the warmth of it melting Yozak just like it always has, even when it wasn't aimed at him.

"I'm not planning to give you up for anyone, Yozak," he says with quiet certainty. "I still have some lost time to make up for with you, after all."

That, Yozak thinks, is wonderful to hear. They've already started to make up for lost time, a little bit, but they have a lot more making up to do. So what is Conrad getting at by telling him to go to Murata?

"But I know your heart is big enough to share," Conrad continues. "I'm willing to let you follow it where it leads you. I'm not taking you for granted anymore, but I know you'll always come back."

Yozak wonders: Conrad's always been generous, but when did his fiance suddenly get so wise?

Doubts melt away under the warmth of Conrad's smile, and the suggestion in his words. Maybe it is time to start following his own advice and speak up. Maybe, in fact, he was a little too quiet with Conrad for a little longer than he needed to be. Maybe he made a mistake or two of his own that he doesn't need to make again.

But, Yozak thinks, he can't just follow his heart over there to the other side of the room, all on his own, leaving Conrad standing here by himself. Even if he knows Yozak's coming back, he'll still be the one watching from a distance again. And anyway, _he_ was the one watching Murata just now, and that wasn't for the first time.

So he hooks his arm in Conrad's and gives him one of his best conspiratorial grins.

"Well, that's fine, but I'm only going there if you come too."

Good thing he had Conrad by the arm first, or he might have pulled away sharply enough for someone else to notice. He frowns, first at Yozak, then, uncertainly, at Murata. Yozak can just about see him considering the possibility, and checking into his own feelings. He opens his mouth, probably to say that _he_ isn't the one who's leaving things unsaid, but those words don't come out. He turns back to Yozak with an "are you sure?" look, but Yozak knows it's already more of a "are you sure this will work?" rather than an "are you sure _I_ should do this?"

Yozak is sure. Conrad goes with him.

They start by just going across the room together, to stand near Murata on this particular occasion, catching his eye just enough to take his gaze off Yuuri for a few minutes. From that beginning, they go about getting more of his attention, and getting his wistful gaze off Yuuri and directing it to Conrad's warm smile and Yozak's jaunty, suggestive one, and waiting for him to notice that they're always there, one or the other of them, or both together.

It takes a little while, but it is entirely worth the look on Murata's face when he finally notices and realizes what they're doing, and _why_ they're always there, and that they're serious about it, and about _him_. And it's more than worth the expression of delight on his face that follows when he finally sees what's waiting right in front of him.

And when it finally comes down to it, Conrad turns out to be far more adept at seduction than Yozak would have given him credit for - or at least, he turns out to be an apt student in the art, and certainly a most valuable player on Yozak's team of two with the goal of winning Murata's attention and, eventually, his heart.

~the end~


End file.
